Kia Niro review: ‘As a family car, it has the lot’

It accelerates with a Jeevesian obedience - it's not sure you ought to be going at that speed, but of course it will deliver it for you

It's a hybrid and an SUV, and that makes it a big noise, worthy in some quarters (not these) of its own acronym - the Huv. I don't see the point in principle of Kia's Niro; anybody with any sense would hybrid innovate in this order: reduce kerb weight, then petrol dependence; boost efficiency any other way; make it look like the future. At Kia - and most other car companies - the new has been dutifully ushered in, but the old has not yet made way.

Whatever this car is, old-guard values are: people will like it if it's higher off the ground. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy: respectability hitches itself to a high-riding style, and suddenly you get into an SUV-ish car and you feel more respectable. It's not a pricey vehicle, and feels more expensive than it is. Kia generally sets itself high drive standards, so you can have a cabin whose materials feel a bit cheap, but that won't tell in a flaky or jittery drive. The Niro's interior is unusually chic, with a lovely wide display, and intuitive controls. It has those hybrid graphics whose visual language nobody understands - arrows going into flows and bar charts going up and down. It makes you feel good, though; green and modern. The regenerative braking is satisfying on this score, giving you all kinds of subtle thumbs-ups on the screen, with no backchat in the drive.